Claude McKay (1890-1948) was born in Jamaica to relatively prosperous parents. He was the youngest of his siblings and was taught by his brother, Uriah Theodore, who was a teacher. In 1907, McKay met Walter Jekyll, who would later become his close friend and patron. Jekyll encouraged him to write poetry in his native dialect, which did not thrill McKay. Jekyll was very instrumental in having two volumes of McKay’s poetry published: Songs of Jamaica, which detailed pheasant life, and Constab Ballads, which chronicled his short-lived career as a policeman (both 1912). At Jekyll’s urging, McKay ventured to America later that year.
Claude McKay attended Tuskegee Institute and Kansas State College, but farming was not in his blood. In 1914, he moved to New York. For the next five years, he held various jobs, including that as a waiter on the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was that experience which would later serve as the meat of his critically acclaimed novel Home To Harlem (1920). In 1919, McKay met Max Eastman. Eastman and his sister, Crystal, were co-owners of a radical journal entitled The Liberator. In July of 1919, one of McKay’s most recognized poems, If We Must Die, was published in The Liberator. McKay rose to instant stardom.
Sylvia Pankhurt, the British socialist, had McKay write for her, in England, for her magazine The Workers’ Dreadnought. He had become fascinated with and pulled into the world of Communism, followed by Socialism. In 1921, he returned to the U.S., and became the co-editor of The Liberator. Disagreements caused that venture to crumble after a very short time. In 1923, he returned to Europe, spending time in Paris and Berlin. While in Europe, he met Alain Locke, educator, philosopher, and the man who would later become known as the “mentor of the Harlem Renaissance”. The two worked together on a number of projects, but, McKay would become angered by Locke for publishing one of McKay’s poems, “White House” under a different title, “White Houses”, which had a severe impact on the dynamics of the title. Despite their differences, the relationship continued to flourish.
Claude McKay was outwardly unreceptive to both Marcus Garvey (and nationalism) and the NAACP. He and his associates fought for Black self-determination, but, went about achieving it within the context of social revolution. In 1928, his most famous novel was published, Home To Harlem, which depicted street life in Harlem. Despite its success, W.E.B. Dubois sharply criticized it as meeting the prurient demands of white readers and publishers looking for portrayals of black licentiousness. Dubois said that Home To Harlem “nauseated me and after the dirtier parts of its filth I feel distinctly like taking a bath”. Through the years, critics have come to dismiss that criticism. Among his other novels were Banjo (1930) and Banana Bottom (1933). He wrote two autobiographical pieces, A Long Way From Home (1937) and Harlem: Negro Metropolis (1940).
Claude McKay died in Chicago on May 22, 1948.
This is blackstarr saying “Vive La Renaissance”.
